MAC Styledriven: Pro Longwear Lip Pencils (Part 1)

MAC Pro Longwear Lip Pencil ($18.00 for 0.04 oz.) is supposed to glide-on and “adhere instantly” with “rich, saturated color.” Unlike the other new Pro Longwear formulas, the description didn’t call out a specific wear time–it says that it will “[prolong] the hours between re-application” and transfer-proof. There are ten shades releasing in this new formula (part of Styledriven), all of which are permanent. This post features these five: Absolutely It (soft burgundy), Bittersweet (intense brown), Etcetera (creamy beige), In Anticipation (soft yellow pink), and Kiss Me Quick (yellow red).

Absolutely It is a burgundy rose with a soft, frosted finish. It has good color payoff but could use a little more pigment.

Bittersweet is a really rich, dark chocolate brown with a semi-matte finish. This was one of the best performing shades–excellent color payoff and creamy enough to yield even coverage with little work.

Etcetera is an orange-y beige nude with a mostly matte finish. It has good color payoff and applies evenly. It’s similar to Korres #36 Natural Brown. MAC Kraft is darker.

In Anticipation is a brightened pink with yellower undertones. It delivers nice even, opaque color. Bobbi Brown Mod Pink is similar but brighter.

Kiss Me Quick is a subtly blue-based red. It goes on opaque and evenly. It is similar to a myriad of red lipsticks.

These have a nice waxy base that gives them a good glide that makes it fairly easy to apply the color, and they have nice pigmentation which means you don’t have to wear the pencil down to a nub to get full color coverage. The creamier shades tend to have the best color payoff, especially when they’re darker (like Bittersweet). Be careful about rubbing your lips together initially, because I found that doing so would cause unevenness–almost like there is a slight tackiness to it before it sets.

Even though there is no specific wear time given for these, they do wear a lot like iron. Alone, these wear around eight to ten hours, but they are drying over time–like my lips were pleading with me, “No more, stop testing, I need balm, STOP, DO NOT PASS GO.” I wouldn’t want to wear these alone, because it really shrinkwraps around the lips (that’s the “adhere instantly” characteristic, I’d say) but the drier texture and shrinkage make them less than flattering on the lips. I don’t expect lip liner to be moisturizing, especially since one of the major reasons to go through the added step of lining is to increase the wear of your gloss/lipstick, and MAC doesn’t say that they are. Underneath a lipstick, it seems to add an hour or two of additional wear.

Just swatching these on the lips for photos was a rather brutal experiment in pain over beauty (I’m normally more than capable of 10-15 products back-to-back, but my lips were dying after three pencils). When I went to remove these, it wiped off in chunks almost; you will need a little bit of elbow grease to remove, so I recommend using a separate remover as it will allow you to be gentler on your lips during the removal process. If you’re familiar with MAC’s Superslick Liquid Liners–it removes kind of like that.

If I find out there is a specific length of time these are supposed to wear, this review may be adjusted to take into account how well (or poorly) these meet that mark.

Where to Buy

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